Thursday, July 14, 2011

A few nights ago, it began.....

None of our children have had sleep problems. As babies they have been in our bed at times (some more than others) and in their crib at times. Usually by 6 months they are primarily in their own crib and come into to our bed for an early morning nursing session. By about one year old they are in their crib all night. Of course we have nights of sickness and that is always an exception. These nights are usually spent sleeping with me in the recliner with the sickie bucket. See HERE for a further explanation of the infamous sickie bucket.

Silas is my only one to have night terrors, but he still stayed in his own bed. I don't think he even knew he had them. Once we figured out his diet issues those have stopped - unless he gets an offending food.

So a few nights ago sweet Evelyn starting screaming in terror. She was scared to death! Todd went into the big kid room (all four olders currently share a room) to see what the commotion was about. Evelyn was crying and shaking in fear. It took several tries to figure out what in the world she was scared of since she hasn't mastered crying AND speaking clearly at the same time. It was finally determined that she thought there was a bear under bed. She could feel it.

Todd looked under and saw nothing. Evelyn looked under and saw nothing. Then she started screaming again! Then Todd (being the ever so observant father) noticed something....

Guilty Party

What could this innocent looking young girl possibly have to do with a screaming 2 year old? Well, Avrie had taken her big toe and ever-so-gently pushed on the foot of Evelyn's bed to shake it. It was so sly that no one had seemed to notice.

Until now.

Honestly, Avrie was just messing around. She had no idea this would scare poor Evelyn like it did. But she did not stop once she saw Evelyn cry. She kept doing it! I'm thinking we need to work on the art of compassion.

Since that night Evelyn has slept with Silas, taken a nap on OUR bed or we have not been home at naptime so it didn't matter. The most recent naptime she cried and cried. There's a bear in my bed. There's a pink bear. It's looking at me. I sat by her bed and held her hand. We talked and sang songs. I had to fix dinner. She started to sob when I left.

I had Avrie go in and lay with her. Since it was Avrie that started the whole mess she might as well help a little. Then they were getting silly. Eventually Evelyn fell asleep with Ellie sitting by her.

Tonight she gave us some trouble. Not crying uncontrollably but still saying there was a dog, bear or worm in her bed. She did finally go to sleep....

In My Own Big Girl Bed

I love how she is using this pink and yellow frog as a pillow. This is one of the culprits that was "looking" at her earlier.